Rhetorical Analysis of Hidden Intellectualism

Rhetorical Analysis of Hidden Intellectualism As a socity we tend to think that people who are book smart are intelligent people, however, when we really consider what a street smart person is we think of them as someone who generally does poorly in school. We as a socity tend to associtate street smarts with antiintellectual concens, but instead we collectively should be thinking of streets smarts as equally intellectual. In the article “Hidden Intellectualism,” author Gerald Graff makes the claim that most schools and colleges are greatly missing out on multiple opportunites to turn something as simple as street smarts into full fledged academic work. Within the article, Graff uses his own personal and learned experince to make the arguement that both school and colleges are sorely missing the clear opportunity to further encourage students to take as many of their nonacademic interests and apply them to a wide variely of academic studies and subjects. Graff further explaines how until he entered college, he very much loathed books and that the only thing he was able to or wanted to read were all types of sport magazines, and sport novels with similar subject matter. Graff continues to explain how his great love for reading about all things sports related and even arguing about sports topics with various friends made him “understand what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to counterargument, and perform other intellectualizing operations” (Graff). This notion made him even furhter relize that wide world of sports were vastly fuled with the exchanging of viewpoints, challenging arguments, and debated discustions, practilly everything you would learn in school but in a more nonintellical and slightly different way. Because of this Graff felt like the vast world of sports was as times perhaps even more intellectual then even schools was. He believed that the experianced and street smart individual in many forms trumps booksmarts because being street smart fullfils an almost tangible intellectual thirst, where school often times does not. Nor does it always manage to engage the student in a subject of interest and passion. As the article progresses, Graff clearly argues towards the ears of various types of students and teachers alike that most students would be even more interested in taking a greater variety of intellectual courses, if they were able to incorpate their personal interests and lifes passions into their regular academic studies. A students individual life interests is essentially unlimited and so wide in variety that almost anything could be considered. To back up his real world arguments Graff uses a much quoted message from a college professor, Ned Laffhas “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eye’s.” Graff feels certain that to get the mass of students interested in academic studies and to assist them to overcome their boredosom, students personal interests should be a large part of academic study as a whole. Graff suggests that “inviting students to write about cars, sports, or clothing fashions does not have to be a pedagogical cop-out as long as students are required to see these interest though academic eyes” (Graff). Furthermore,the lens of academia can and should be vast and inclusive to truly connect a persons true passion for life and study combined. With this considered and fully implemented it is believed as it has been documented that it would benefit all harmoniously. In the articles main subject matter, Graff claims that a big and continuing problem with schools and colleges is that they do not or will not include street smarts in their academic studys what so ever. Graff isn’t suggesting taking away academic studys and replace it with nonacademic study. He’s suggesting there should be a greater mix of the two. Graff agrees that students absolutely need to read models of intellectually writing, to get a greater understanding of it. He mentions in his actuicle that George Orwell is a great example of the imortance of understanding of both intellectual and street smarts to be properly well rounded in many aspects of life. But even then, Graff is arguing that schools desperatly need to include multi levels of street smart content into their academic studys to help engage a students intersts into the emersive academic study experiance. Graff suggests “it is self defeating to entirely decline to introduce any text or subject that figures to engage students who will otherwise tune out academic work intirely” (Graff). Graff also express that if studerts were granted the opportunity to incorporate their interest in academic studies, then the students performance in school would expand. This expanded performance would have a positive ripple effect all through the halls of acdemia and beyond because in part it increases the levels of interest and even joy in ones everyday school experience. If school and colleges added students interest into academic studies, students would’t just be interested in intellectual courses, but also even more in school in general. This should be the ultimate goal of any institution. Overall, author Gerald Graff successfully argues that most schools and colleges are greatly missing out on the vast opportunites to turn something as simple and signifigant as street smarts into full fledged hardcore academic work. The author, by using his own personal experience when he was growing up, helped him back up his agruments time and again in different venues. After reading this article its believed, we as a society should be thinking of streets smarts as equally intellectual, and not just defined as someone who does poorly in school because his or her interests arent being properly put into scholastic action.